Augsburg and Heidenheim cancel press conference after incident lands fan in hospital | OneFootball

There would be no sporting related post match comments during the Heidenheim-Augsburg post-match press conference after a nasty end to Saturday’s Bundesliga match at the Voith Arena. Matters got extremely tense during an extremely tight affair between two Bavarian Swabian relegation rivals during the second half. Twice during the second 45, players from the opposing side got involved in physical altercations that had to be broken up.

The tension spilled over into the stands and a Heidenheim supporter eventually strode onto the pitch. The FCH fan suffered a serious injury and was rendered unconscious. Post-match victory celebrations in front of the home FanKurve following Heidenheim’s 2-1 win were cancelled as club medical staff attended to the stricken supporter. Eventually, a helicopter had to airlift the fan to the hospital.

Both clubs also agreed to cancel the post-match press conference. This meant that there would be no discussion of a series of highly interesting talking points emerging from the match. Heidenheim secured their first win of the season behind goals from Mikkel Kaufmann and Sirlord Conteh. Recently promoted FCH younger Adam Kölle nearly scored for the second consecutive week off the bench.

Augsburg head coach Sandro Wagner – under serious fire after heading into the weekend on three straight losses – did not have to explain his fourth straight defeat, or another Bundesliga match that ended with a hospitalization, to anyone. Heidenheim head coach Frank Schmidt spoke briefly about the match to Sky Germany before heading to the ultimately cancelled presser.

“Football is important, but not the most important thing in life,” Schmidt told Sky. “We’re not by the tabloid press here. I don’t know if the fan is okay and I don’t know why the fans rushed onto the pitch. Perhaps they saw that a friend of theirs was fighting for their lives. Emotions were running high. I’m glad that we were able to intervene and prevent worse.

“It’s difficult for me to think about the result right now,” Schmidt responded when asked about the game. “We had to win in order to avoid slipping down the table. That doesn’t mean that we’re now out of the woods after this victory, but our confidence is greater. We put in a great performance and the team fought hard. The game was great, but I’ve got other things on my mind right now.“

Sitting between the two head coaches, the Heidenheim press officer revealed that there would be no sporting comments from either leader. Wagner merely wished the young man and his family all the best. Schmidt reiterated his points from earlier and thanked Wagner and the Augsburg players for also de-escalating matters.

“When a helicopter lands in the stadium, one can imagine that it’s not a minor incident,” Schmidt remarked in his final words before the press officer adjourned matters for the day. “It’s something serious.“

GGFN | Peter Weis